Questions
by Richie S
Summary: Wild Flower and Dawn Star's friendship is explored. Unfinished, part 1 is Wild Flower's POV part 2 is Dawn Star's POV and part 3 is their actual conversation.
1. Chapter 1

I looked up to the sky because the sight of straight blue occasionally interrupted by white always helped me to calm myself and understand things. But at this mountain place, Dirge I think it was called, it was mostly a grey sky with an occasional patch of blue. This was too bad because the blue sky wasn't their to help me concentrate and I really could have used the extra concentration because at my age, which is nine years old by the way, it is normal for a person to have a lot of questions on which to think about. After spending awhile looking at the grey sky and not coming up with the answer I was looking for I decided to go ask Dawn Star. I was very happy to have Dawn Star as a traveling companion, even though I like almost everyone that I travel with Dawn Star is my favorite.

Dawn Star is just so nice to everyone, even me and she has a way of explaining things so that I can understand them. I can think of one particular time in Tien's Landing while Kang was preparing the flyer for its journey to the Imperial City when I asked a question that had been on my mind for a long time. "Where do babies come from?" Now before asking this question in Tien's Landing I had tried asking the Guardian but he said something about humans being weakened by their flesh and how humans should have more control over themselves, especially the younger ones. I was unsure of what the Guardian meant because I am a young human and had no idea what he was referring to so I asked the question aloud to try to get an answer. As soon as I asked the Black Whirlwind immediately began laughing and started saying something about swords going into sheaths. I was confused because what did swords and sheaths have to do with babies? I guess I'll never know because Dawn Star clamped her hands over my ears and yelled something at Whirlwind, when she took her hands off my ears Whirlwind simply shrugged and said I would know in a few years anyway.

Dawn Star glared at him as he sauntered off and then turned to look at me; I remembered that her face seemed somewhat red, just like her clothes. "Well, Wild Flower, it all starts with… I mean when a man and woman love each other… I mean… what I mean is could you give me a few moments to gather my thoughts?" So I did, and after a few moments of meditation Dawn Star said she was ready to speak with me. "Wild Flower, you caught me off guard, but I suppose at your age you should know. It's a perfectly normal bodily function and it's nothing to be ashamed of. You see, it all starts when a person is a few years older than you, their body starts to change and they begin to look at other people much differently than they did before and they"

And Dawn Star continued and described in detail where babies came from. I'll admit I though it was a little gross but Dawn Star said that people don't start changing until their a few years older than me so I probably won't think it is gross in a few years. Dawn Star just did a great job explaining babies to me so I think she can help me out now because I have another question, like what is this Natural Order of Things? Sure I know after creating everything the Great Dragon wanted everything to go a certain way so everything would stay harmonious, but what about when someone tried to hurt people and break the Natural Order, someone like the Other, would the same Natural Order of Things produce someone like the Guardian to protect people and things in the Natural Order? Also if the two sides met who would win? Naturally everyone wanted the harmonious Natural Order side to win but did that always happen or was it possible for chaos to win? I would ask the guardian but bringing this up would only give strength to the Other and the Guardian already had a hard enough time fighting the Other as it was, so I decided it would be best to ask Dawn Star.

Getting up from my tent I poked my head out into the cold to find where she was. She was outside of one of the tents doing some kind of stretch exercise. "Dawn Star!" I cry out and she immediately turns and smiles at the sight of me. "Wild Flower, how are you, where you able to sleep even though it was freezing last night?" I nod and ask her the same question to which she shows a weird facial expression and wipes a way a tear! "Dawn Star, why are you so sad?" I begin to which Dawn Star laughs as she wipes her tear away. "Oh I'm not sad, people can cry because their really happy too. Last night I was," and I noticed a very happy look on Dawn Star's face, "very… warm." I look at Dawn Star for a moment curious as to why she is so happy and crying at the same time; though this curiosity is soon overwhelmed by the main question on my mind and that is the Natural Order of Things. "Well Dawn Star I am glad you're in a good mood, could you tell me what you know about the Natural Order of Things?"


	2. Chapter 2

Warmth, that is what immediately came to mind. Though I may have been in Dirge's snow covered peeks I felt comfortably warm in the tent under a mountain of blankets, with Ming. Memories of last night washed over me producing an involuntary shiver in spite of the warmth. Ming, _my _Ming, being with him was like making love to the Great Dragon Itself. The most mundane and at the same time the most amazing thing was that I had known him from as far back as I could remember and growing up he had been my closest friend. Long before I noticed he was a man he was my friend of whom I could confide in, who laughed at my jokes and I at his, he was a person I could always trust to be their for me. Sure we were close and that led to the occasional teasing from our fellow students that it was more than mere friendship that drew me and Ming together. When I heard this good-natured jesting I laughed, it was just so incestuous! Ming was like my brother, until that final day.

I had gotten up early that morning to work on my garden, it was the first time all week where I had an opportunity to really put time into it and I worked with zest. So enamored was I by my labors that I failed to notice the approach of the one person at Two Rivers school that I could honestly say I did not like: Gao the Lesser. Ironic that when Gao came to Two Rivers school two years ago I actually thought he was attractive from a physical standpoint. But his rampant selfishness, arrogance and his superiority complex made him incredibly repulsive. I always believed in giving people a second chance and trying to find the good in everyone but Gao's resistance to discipline and reason for that matter and his cavalier attitude towards women in general and myself in particular just ignited an anger in me that I have never felt towards anyone before or since. Gao's advances made my blood boil, I never thought it was possible to have such a perfectly revolting mixture of callousness, rudeness and greed in one person. The thought of it! He wanted me to be his woman and all he thought he had to do was throw some of his father's dirty money at me.

Gao's advances this particular morning angered me to the point that I considered striking Gao until Ming arrived, I felt so relieved that Gao was interrupted, by his polar opposite no less. As Gao left and I turned to speak with Ming I couldn't help but notice that his figure was rather pleasant to behold, but any thoughts of that were lost as we rushed to meet Gujin. After getting my long sword, we rushed to the beach and fought the bandits, I did not enjoy the battle because all life is precious but it was in self-defense so I could accept it as a necessary evil. Then the Lotus Assassin appeared and used his necromancy. From the moment the spell was cast to the dispersion of those ghosts I felt profoundly disturbed, always sensitive to the spirits I knew their appearance on the beach was profoundly wrong, criminal even. It was as if the Natural Order of Things was deliberately and maliciously inverted.

The jarring thought of those ghosts was still on my mind as I returned to Two Rivers with Ming. I began walking to the garden but before I even left the courtyard I could hear Gao running his mouth and issuing a challenge to Ming. Now I do not relish combat for it's own sake, but this was one fight that I welcomed whole heartedly. The actual fight was relatively short as Ming gave Gao quite a beating, I remembered grinning ear to ear when Ming was declared the winner and I began to turn to the other spectators to vocalize my joy. However my joy immediately turned to worry as I could feel Gao harnessing chi to do… _something_. By the time I turned around and viewed the arena it was already over, Gao had used a forbidden style, he shot a fireball from his hands and was expelled! I was euphoric! So much so that I temporarily forgot about the ghosts on the beach and approached to congratulate my friend as did seemingly every other students at the school for Gao's arrogance had earned him few if any friends, but before any of us could reach Ming we were waved off by Smiling Mountain who said Ming had important things to converse and meditate about, Master's orders and could not be disturbed with congratulations no matter how well earned they were.

Accepting Smiling Mountain's explanation I set off to the garden intent on finishing what I had started. As before I was so caught up in what I was doing I did not hear anyone approach. I did not hear but I felt a hand grasping my breast. I turned and almost broke Gao's jaw. While he was still reeling I followed it up with one of Legendary Strike's basic combos, my anger at Gao fueling my strength as he fell backward clearly hurting. "You think you hurt?" I screamed. "The human body was a gift from the Great Dragon to be enjoyed by two people, not sold as a commodity or to be taken by force!" Having spoken my peace I prepared to launch myself at Gao once more but out of the corner of my eye I could see Gao's men approaching, their were three. Immediately ducking the clumsy kick I swept the leg of my first assailant and blocked a punch form the second and countered with my elbow to his face and then my knee to his stomach. The third came at me with the staff, I easily dodged the attack and leapt behind him and applied an elementary choke hold.

Using the brief respite I assessed the battle, Gao and the first two men were beginning to recompose themselves, but the third man I had in my grip was almost unconscious, I decided to drop my current opponent and use a flying kick on one of Gao's men to instantly take him out when I heard the sound of wood scraping brick. In the moment it took me to realize what was going on it was already too late. Gao's hidden fourth man had picked up the staff of my current opponent and before I had an opportunity to dodge it had already happened, the cane struck my head and the world went gray as I lapsed into semi-consciousness. Because of the blow to my head I have trouble remembering what happened next. I remember being terrified that Gao would take advantage of me. I am mystified as to what man could possibly find an unresponsive woman titillating but Gao was capable of anything. Gao began caressing my cheek and slowly moved his hand down to my chin and just as he was finished their and moved on to my neck and just as it seemed my worst fears would be realized one of the men shouted something at Gao, something about being in a hurry. Gao yelled back and the next thing I knew I was surrounded by darkness and rough burlap.

Sometime later in the swamps my consciousness fully returned, I had no idea how much time had passed. What I do no was that Gao was viciously arguing with some of his men. Something about running out of time, assassins, flyers and Two Rivers, at the time I did not know what was being discussed nor did I care as I assessed my options for escape. Suddenly the bickering of the men stopped as if they were straining to hear something and surely enough in the distance their were the sounds of battle! More specifically the battle cries sounded as if they were coming from none other than Ming! My spirits were lifted as I heard the sound of my approaching friend but they were quickly dampened by the fact that Gao had the advantage of numbers and as for Gao himself, we were pretty evenly matched in terms of martial skill but I believed that I could beat him, but the sorcery he knew was something that was alien to me and I had no idea how to compensate for it. Before I could ponder my dilemma any further, the sack was overturned and I tumbled out.

I immediately assumed an offensive stance but it was already too late, Gao's hands already had tongues of fire leaping from them and they were pointed directly at me! Gao leered at me and for a moment I though he was going to speak, but he remained silent. I saw his eyes traveling down my body and I heard the appreciative whistle. Gao was disgusting, he had no concept of well-being beyond what benefited himself and the thought of being touched by him as I had earlier, be it ever so briefly brought the taste of bile to my mouth. An urgent need for escape overwhelmed and I faked left as if I was trying to run and all present began to lunge towards me as I immediately moved right and sprinted for all I was worth.

Gao's response was not long in coming as what seemed like a burning ember, engulfed in bright orange flame missed me by a mere hand length. Realizing even a moving target would be at the mercy of Gao's sorcery I looked around desperately for shelter.. Seeing an out cropping of rocks from a nearby cave, I ran for all I was worth and dove behind the rocks. Gao was persistent however and even though the flames struck the other side of the stone the heat still radiated over to my side. Having earned a few moments respite had I set my sights on my goal, the cave and ran for it's mouth for all I was worth.

As I ran into the cave I found the path soon curving to the right and then it suddenly gave way to a huge cavern and I slowed to assess my situation as an ogre came into view. I remember hearing about ogres at Two Rivers School, they were naïve and docile when calm, but also possessed a short temper and were brutal when enraged. I began crossing the cave at a quick walk, putting distance between the way to the entrance and the ogres when a flaming ember burst forth and hit one of the ogres with tremendous force. The low-pitched snarls of agony and acrid stench of burning flesh was too much, I felt bile again rising in my throat as if I were being fondled by Gao.

Suddenly a booming, yet childish voice filled the cave. "My Flor! You're hurting! No" mumbled the ogre and then seeing Gao and what he had done to it's mate the ogre let out an ear-piercing roar and charged Gao. Gao was no push-over however as the second ogre was met with the fate of it's mate. However while writhing on agony while at death's door the second ogre managed to pound the wall and cause a cave-in. Gao turned to me furious as he vomited his next words of accusation "You're proving impossible Dawn Star! Look at what you made me do! You have no idea how a proper woman should act!" I screamed back at him equally furious "It's always somebody else's fault isn't it Gao? Well for once in your life be a man, stop hiding behind your father and be responsible for yourself! If you weren't" I was cut off from my tirade as Gao again raised his flaming hand towards me. "Shut up" he said in a dangerously low voice. I had no idea what Gao was going to do next, he was certainly out of logical options what were we going to do in cave? Was Gao going to try to kill me? But I knew help was on the way so I decided to remain silent and not provoke Gao and wait for reinforcements to show up, certainly with the advantage in numbers Gao's sorcery could be negated.

The wait was not long. Ming and Zu arrived and when Gao uttered his denial of their presence I found myself for once happy at what Gao had said. Until of course he began muttering something about Two Rivers, how he had saved me, at the time I thought he was just rambling, Ming and I charged Gao immediately. Our strategy worked beautifully, either one of us could fight Gao to a standstill with martial and weapon styles and as for his sorcery one of us drew his fire while the other attacked. For a person that tried to put out such a tough image he fell in battle surprising quickly.

Now that dealing with Gao was finally over I turned to Ming eager to speak. Having been so preoccupied with what had just happened my mind only then traveled back to the morning where Ming had interrupted my conversation with Gao. As before I was forced to admit that Ming possessed a physical form that any women would find… _enticing. _While admiring Ming's physique I was caught off guard by his words. He claimed that what he had done for me he would have done for any other student. These words did not hurt, but they definitely left a mixture of disappointment and guilt in me. I scolded myself for thinking myself to be of such importance, where was my humility? Granted me and Ming were best friends, but Ming was very popular and I by no means had a monopoly on him. It was just that I thought I was special that and that I was Ming's number one priority. Sure I was high up there, but in the end that was all we were, friends, one of Ming's many friends, it was not as if we were something more, something that would have warranted such a high priority. But then for the briefest of moments I thought what if me and Ming _were_ more than friends and I _was _his number one priority?

I managed to entertained this thought for a few moments when we happened upon the flyer and then soon the armada of flyers passed over head and then my whole life went up in flames as surely as if it were one of the buildings of Two Rivers. Everything and everyone I knew and loved from my youngest childhood was destroyed. All except for one person… Ming. He was all I had left, I think it was that moment as we prepared to board the flyer to leave for Tien's Landing when I realized Ming was still with me, that was the moment where I started to fall in love with him. It wasn't as if it were some romantic legend that was told around the campfire where the hero and heroine meet and instantly fall in love, it was much slower. It was as if every moment of my life from the mundane chores and tasks to the climactic threshold moments had prepared me for that day where I realized Ming meant more to me than my best friend. Through our adventure Ming's circle of influence steadily broadened so that by the time Silk Fox joined our party Ming had went from being a mere romantic fantasy to eventually being the first thing on my mind when I woke up and the last thing on my mind when I went to asleep.

I should have known when Silk Fox joined our group that I was in love. Our personalities may have been polar opposites but even that was not a valid explanation of our constantly being at odds with each other. We were definitely rivals but I was too stubborn to admit what was the source of our rivalry. It all came into focus in the Necropolis, I was forced to face the possibility that Ming could die and therefore was forced to face what Ming meant to me. That was the moment that I realized that I loved him. We were but a short distance from the Unfinished Tomb when I approached Ming I _had_ to tell him how I felt. Much to my horror Silk Fox had the same idea. I was so petrified what did I, a peasant from the ends of the Empire have to offer a man that the princess herself did not? While neither Silk Fox or myself ever explicitly stated we wanted a decision the three of us all knew what was going on. We were telling Ming to chose his lover, for he was not a commodity to be fought over but an irresistible specimen of a man. I will never forget what happened next, without hesitating for a moment Ming turned to me and smiled before saying, "Do not let her words rattle you Dawn Star, your support means much to me." With one sentence Ming had completely forsaken any relationship he could have with Silk Fox, with the Emperor's daughter and he turned it all down just to be with me! Ming's casual rejection of being beside the thrown made me fall in love with him all over again. It also increased my concern for his safety one hundred fold as he ventured into the lair of the Lotus Assassins and my releif one hundred fold when he finally escaped the Assasins' fortress.

As I lay back and absorb the warmth coming from Ming I suddenly remember the weight of the day, repelling the whole of the Imperial Army. Pausing a few more moments to remember the reason for my fighting I admire Ming's sleeping form once more and ponder the depths of my love for him and I am reminded of a time at Tien's Landing where I explained to Wild Flower, where babies came from and all that it entailed, the man/woman relationship, love and all those other things in a way that was appropriate and understandable for a child. In doing so I was forced to consider my own attitudes about sexuality and I must admit I was somewhat doubtful. Even though some people seemed to go on and on about how wonderful sex was I doubted if it was really so pleasurable. Was it really worthy of all the attention that it garnered? At the time of my talk with Wild Flower my feelings for Ming had not yet come into their fullness, but now as I lay beside the man I love and think back to my earlier doubt a giggle escapes from me… and a tear. I just could not believe how wonderful it was, how much it affirmed life. Being with Ming it was as if our bodies were the scales by which the Natural Order of Things were brought into absolute harmony. Truly this was a celestial gift from the Great Dragon and thinking back to my reprisal of Gao, my memory of that day invoked not disgust but pity. Gao and like minded individuals would never know the wonders of being with someone you loved, they were to selfish to really share themselves with another person, to them it was just another need to be met as if it were eating or sleeping.

Ugh, I indulge myself to much in philosophy. Today is a weighty day, the Imperial Army approaches. I arise and dress wishing I had more substantial covering for my legs in such cold weather. Stepping out of the tent I ignore my discomfort and begin practicing the stretching exercises I learned early on at Two Rivers School. "Dawn Star!" I turn to the sound of the voice and am unable to suppress the wave of joy that washed over me, in the time that I had known her Wild Flower was like my daughter and next to Ming I was closest to her than anybody. "What is it?" I reply. Wild Flower furrows her brow for a moment, before answering "Dawn Star, I am glad you're in a good mood, could you tell me what you know about the Natural Order of Things?"


End file.
